The Dark Side of Netflix

6/14/2009

Netflix ads are all over television. They are on radio. Banner ads appear all over Web sites. Bizarrely, Netflix ads have even appeared on this Web site through open, automated ad rotations. All of these ads are annoying, but their annoyance pales in comparison to the annoyance of Netflix's pop-under ads. If you spend much time on the Internet, you have--no doubt--seen these offending ads.

Here's how it works. You visit a Web site, complete your business, and close the browser window. That should be the end of your experience, but do not be surprised to find another small window remaining on your desktop after you are finished. In bold and bright letters, Netflix beckons you with tantalizing offers of free trials and low introductory pricing. Even though you did not intentionally open the advertisement page, it is there whether you care to see it or not. If you want the obnoxious ad to go away, you must manually close the window. That is when you start to wonder what sort of cookie data is now on your computer and how much extra bandwidth the ad page consumed while loading.

If you did not want to see this sneaky Netflix pop-under ad, why were you inconvenienced by it? Sure, you can install software to fight these ads, but the software is not 100% effective. Besides, why should you have to install software on your computer to battle Netflix's marketing efforts? Why should you have to take any steps to close or impede a window you did not want to open in the first place?

Netflix is playing innocent and denying fault for these ads. The truth is that Netflix has chosen to hire advertising companies who deal in this sleazy and forced type of pop-under advertising. Do these pop-under ads annoy you? They certainly annoy NETFLIXSUX. NETFLIXSUX is expressing outrage over these ads in an online protest of sorts. You can visit the site at www.netflixsux.com.

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